Week 11 vs DET

[ATL96Steeler]

The DEF played inspired football last week as expected after being taken to the woodshed by NE...but attacking a rookie QB with pressure & 1 high safety probably will not be the game plan this week.

At home again but I don't like the matchup on several fronts this week.

DET DL vs PIT OL, big advantage inside with Suh and Fairly, and Ansah is benefiting from the big boys dominating in the middle with pressure from the edge. Idt Bell will be a big factor in this game as a runner unless Haley flips the script and passes early and often and then works back to the run...I think he will try the big pkg with Adams at TE and try to run it anyway creating a lot of 3rd and long and the PIT OFC will struggle. Would love to see some passing plays out of that big TE set.

Defending DET...my guess is LeBeau will play more zone in this game keep the play in front and hope that Stafford tries to force some balls.

I'm not worried about being blown off the field or anything, but the way Haley calls games I don't see it working this week...my 1st predicted loss

24-21 DET

Hopefully LeBeau will pull out a gem, because I don't think Haley will.

What say you?

 

[MISKO]

I have no confidence in haley... he took a decent offense and destroyed it

 

[Kreton]

In case you wanted to know what I thought here I was I posted on the Lions board about our upcoming game.

 

[Kreton]

I know you were all sitting there wondering "What does Kreton think about the upcoming game in Pittsburgh?". So here goes.

A lot of people will point to the fact that the Lions are 6-3 and the Steelers are 3-6 and assume the Lions will win. That may not be the case.

I think this is going to be a tough game to win. They have won 3 out of their last 5, beating the Jets, Bills and Ravens. Those aren't exactly gimme's this year. Despite their record they are actually playing really good pass defense. They are getting beat on the ground. Offensively they are playing solid, balanced football since they got their RB situation handled. Roethlisberger is a solid QB who performs well under pressure. Our D line may not be able to rattle him at all. Antonio Brown could light us up pretty well. He is better at being a WR than our corners are at being corners. Leveon Bell is a solid RB and he should have a solid game against us.

Keys to victory for the Lions:

We need to control the games tempo. Long drives need to happen and that is usually due to running the ball. Bush and Bell are the biggest factors in this game to me. They combine for 150 yards and I think we will be in good position to win this.

Coverage needs to be great. Many weeks we can rely on a good pass rush to force the QB into bad throws or quick throws to allow your secondary to cover up its weaknesses. I dont see that working here. BR is one of the better QB's under pressure in my opinion. In order to be effective our secondary needs to be on their receivers.

O Line needs to do what they've been doing. Steelers are going to blitz and they need to pick that up.


Keys to losing:

If Antonio Brown is given the opportunity to make big plays we are screwed.

Cliche incoming!!!!!!! If we turn the ball over more than once or maybe twice this game will be over.

Dont let Tomlin outcoach us. To be honest, Tomlin is a better coach than Schwartz. We have more talented players I believe that. But if this becomes a game of wits between the coaches, we dont stand even half a chance.

Prediction: I think this game will start slow with one team or another being up by a single score. By then end of the game I think the Lions will pull ahead and win 31-21.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Kreton...interesting take. "We have more talented players I believe that".

I agree on OFC 100%, and on the DL. For PIT to have any kind of consistency on OFC...I believe Haley will have to abandon the run early and go up tempo, quick passing game, and work backwards to the run...honestly I don't see PIT winning trying to run the ball in the fashion they have the last few weeks.

 

[element1286]

Kreton...interesting take. "We have more talented players I believe that".

I agree on OFC 100%, and on the DL. For PIT to have any kind of consistency on OFC...I believe Haley will have to abandon the run early and go up tempo, quick passing game, and work backwards to the run...honestly I don't see PIT winning trying to run the ball in the fashion they have the last few weeks.

Yep, they should have been doing that for the past two years though. And haven't yet, I'm not optimistic.

It's interesting, to me at least, that the Lions only have 15 sacks as a team, which is in the bottom 5 of the league. I'm thinking Ben will have some time in the pocket, but he has to use it wisely.

The one equalizer I can see for the Steelers is the turf at Heinz Field, Detroit isn't a dome team in the negative connotation, but they are built for speed at the skill positions. This will be the second consecutive weekend of Pitt and Steelers playing on back to back days. I can see the bad turf playing a role in the this game, and helping the slower Steelers defense keep up.

That all being said, I see the Lions getting an interception or two, and Ben getting sacked more than he should. Taking DET 28-24.

 

[Wazmankg]

It's interesting reading some of the posts from Steelers fans. They mirror my feelings about this game. I'd be amazed if the Steelers are able to establish any sort of run game against the Lions. The Lions run D is very good. They've been gashed for a couple very long ones by very good backs which is the only reason their run D isn't top 5. I don't see that sort of talent in the Steelers backfield. Barring very bad conditions I don't think the Steelers will be able to hold the Lions to much under 4 TDs. Their best hope is for Big Ben to light them up. Their pass D can be had. I don't know enough about the Steelers to know how they'd go about doing that. I think the Lions will win but going up against a desperate Steelers team at their place is never an attractive prospect. Here's hoping for a good game where nobody gets hurt... not too badly anyway.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

It's interesting reading some of the posts from Steelers fans. They mirror my feelings about this game. I'd be amazed if the Steelers are able to establish any sort of run game against the Lions. The Lions run D is very good. They've been gashed for a couple very long ones by very good backs which is the only reason their run D isn't top 5. I don't see that sort of talent in the Steelers backfield. Barring very bad conditions I don't think the Steelers will be able to hold the Lions to much under 4 TDs. Their best hope is for Big Ben to light them up. Their pass D can be had. I don't know enough about the Steelers to know how they'd go about doing that. I think the Lions will win but going up against a desperate Steelers team at their place is never an attractive prospect. Here's hoping for a good game where nobody gets hurt... not too badly anyway.

Bell, whom you guys probably saw @ MSU is not a home run kind of back, but he does have some speed...best in between the Ts and my thinking on the lack of running is PIT is overmatched inside and will get no movement from the G C G positions.

Yes...PIT has a shot to win, should be a slow field...but imo it will take something DET hasn't seen on tape much.

Likewise for the Lions...I'm not a UGA or Ga Tech fan but I watched both Stafford & CJ a lot as young guys in college and keep up with them as pros.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Yep, they should have been doing that for the past two years though. And haven't yet, I'm not optimistic.

It's interesting, to me at least, that the Lions only have 15 sacks as a team, which is in the bottom 5 of the league. I'm thinking Ben will have some time in the pocket, but he has to use it wisely.

The one equalizer I can see for the Steelers is the turf at Heinz Field, Detroit isn't a dome team in the negative connotation, but they are built for speed at the skill positions. This will be the second consecutive weekend of Pitt and Steelers playing on back to back days. I can see the bad turf playing a role in the this game, and helping the slower Steelers defense keep up.

That all being said, I see the Lions getting an interception or two, and Ben getting sacked more than he should. Taking DET 28-24.

Good point about the field...will keep scoring down barring turnovers.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Week 11 Recap

A pleasant surprise!!! The outcome I mean.


Off the top I have to say, great job by both Haley & LeBeau.


OC…it was pretty much a no brainer that Bell was not going to factor much as a runner. The no huddle with the short passing game was the perfect counter to the big advantage DET had at DT. He still found a way to keep the DET DL respecting their run stopping task by running it 20+ times. Only 1 sack deserves mentioning here to the OL and to Ben…he could’ve gone down maybe 2 other times, but did the smart thing and got rid of the ball.


RZ OFC continues to be a problem, but the over throw to Paulson was on Ben, should’ve been an easy 6.
Brown, got the glory and rightfully so with his great RAC ability, but kudos to Cotchery on excellent down field blocking on both of those TDs by Brown…to those that hate the bubble to screen to the WR…did you see how it set up the TD to Cotchery? Everyone has seen that on tape so they jumped the nice pump fake by Ben and he laid it out there perfectly.


DC…I didn’t expect Bush to put it on the ground twice. Loved the pick by Allen…I don’t know if they baited Stafford into that pass b/c he burnt Ike for 6 on the same play earlier, but obviously they were ready for it the second time around…if Ike could only catch…omg he would be leading the NFL in INTs!!!


Worilds may have had his best game as a pro. Joique Bell got more yds rushing than I was comfortable with, but overall the entire front 7 played well…only rushing 4 guys most of the day, Stafford had all day to throw at times, but the PIT DEF still got 2 sacks and 5 QB hits total.


Outlook…at least the Steelers are putting themselves back in the picture for January football…good job vs a pretty good team…now we find out if this team is really going to make a run…@ CLE and @ BAL the next 2 weeks…we shall see.

 

[element1286]

Honestly didn't think they had it in them.

Offense was effective, seems like we found another team that has no ability to rush the passer. Defense played well 3/4 quarters, but you can't give up 27 in the second quarter and call it a win.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

DET...a little surprising they don't get more sacks with those beasts they have inside but Ansah did not play much if at all (pretty good edge rusher for a young guy).

The 27 didn't bother me as much b/c it really should have been 31...holding them to a FG before the half imo gave the DEF a little boost...no clue why CJ did not catch a ball in the 2nd half, but it wasn't b/c of Ike.

Until the RZ OFC is fixed, they're not going anywhere, but at least the games have a little more meaning.

 

[element1286]

Technically I suppose they have meaning, but I think interesting is a better description. I'm not even interested in this team making the playoffs. I'd rather they didn't.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

True...but one year we rode the 6th seed all the way to the title...okay I'm dreaming.

If they don't I'd rather they really stink vs just barely stinking.